Blog Archives

At this year’s PAX South, Pheonix Labs had a booth for their co-op monster hunting game, Dauntless. I wasn’t there to play it. Though, I did watch a bunch of the footage that came out of the various gaming news sources that were there. While watching that footage, I had a bunch of thoughts and ideas about the combat and the creatures. Today, I’ll be sharing those thoughts and ideas.

If you have not heard, Blizzard released some preliminary patch notes for Diablo III’s public test realm a few days ago. These patch notes correspond with the eventual 2.5.0 update. So far, the biggest features coming with this update are the Crafting Material Storage and the Armory. However, the Diablo team is planning to add another feature the players haven’t been asking for. They are adding another tier of Ancient items. Yay! #sarcasm

Three weeks ago, Blizzard added a surprise entry to the Heroes of the Storm roster. It was a surprise because most new heroes spend some time on the Public Test Realm (PTR) before being released. I’m pretty sure this one went straight to the live servers. The newly added hero is Zul’Jin, a ranged assassin with an unlimited supply of axes at his disposal. As excited as I am for this character, I think his kit could use some tweaking.

Today’s post is going to be a short one. I’m going to quickly discuss an idea that has never made sense to me. It is a concept that began with Microsoft’s Xbox console, and eventually made its way to Sony’s PlayStation. Now, I hear even Nintendo is planning to implement this idea to their upcoming console, the Switch. The “feature” I am referring to is the online multiplayer subscription for consoles.

I’ve been pondering a few things regarding design choices made for Paladins, the team shooter from Hi-Rez Studios. First, I am contemplating the purpose of mounts and their future post-launch. Second, I am curious why there is a keybind for Sprint when there is no sprint function. Thirdly, I am wondering what it would be like to reintroduce sprint to Paladins. These thoughts and more in today’s post.

Every once in a while I’ll get an idea in my head that just won’t go away. In some of these instances, the idea is one that would affect the design of a game I am playing or have played. I have already shared a few of those ideas on this blog and this post will be no different. In the last week or so, I have had an old idea make a resurgence; attempt to concept a revised Soul Tree feature for Trion Worlds’s RIFT. I have not played or thought about RIFT in a long time, so this thought popping back into my head took me by surprise. However, I have fleshed out a number of ideas on how I would revise (or rebuild) the soul trees, and I thought it would be fun to share them.

I feel like my post a few weeks ago, Traits that Dia-blow, may have had an air of saltiness to it. So, to clear the air, I shall discuss something actually pretty sweet. Auriel, a new Support hero representing the Diablo universe, was released on the Tuesday prior to my previous post. She has a unique kit, and an even more unique way of providing healing to her allies. In today’s post, I shall discuss her core support mechanic, and discuss an idea I have for stripping mana from several members of the Heroes of the Storm roster.

Heroes of the Storm has seen a slew of new hero additions and talent changes in the past few months. I have been playing around with different heroes (old and new) in Try Mode to test out builds, and to get a sense of their kits. While several heroes have some interesting new options, there are others that still possess questionable abilities or talents. Gul’dan, the most recent hero added to the game, has only one viable ultimate because his other option lacks consistent value and rains down disappointment upon the battlefield. For today’s post, I want to discuss two heroes who possess traits that still feel out of place or oddly designed, and attempt to create solutions to the issues I perceive.

Last week, I watched a video from the YouTube channel, Bellular Gaming. The topic of the video (found here) focused on ten concerns Bellular has with the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion. About midway through the video, I decided to share my thoughts on a few of his concerns in a comment. I had written responses to two of his points before a misclick here and an accidental key press there sent me to another video, killing the comment I had been working on. So, instead of attempting to rewrite my comment and risk my fingers stumbling all over themselves again, I shall share my thoughts regarding a few of those points here.

I haven’t made much progress with my RM project since I last discussed it on the blog (here). I can’t start building the maps or the laundry list of items in RPG Maker just yet because there is a lot I have to do before I get to that point. I have made a huge shift in how gear works in my game (again) due to an awesome new plugin released by Yanfly. I’m also still solidifying some key ideas and numbers (lots… and lots of numbers). In today’s post, I’ll discuss the new plugin I’m using and the changes it is bringing to my project.

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Some Cool Content

My WoW Clone: Priest (WoW)
» I created a page that outlines how I reinvented/redesigned the Priest class from World of Warcraft for my “My WoW Clone” blog series. Check it out, and share your thoughts on what I’ve done. Enjoy!

Build a Hero: WoW Warlock
» I created an outline hero for Heroes of the Storm based on the Warlock class from World of Warcraft. Check it out, and let me know what you think. Enjoy!

The X-Men Movie: One Busted Timeline
» I wrote a post that broke down the timeline for all of the X-Men movies up to X-Men: Apocalypse. I included an image that illustrates the timeline as I see it. Check it out, and let me know what you think. Enjoy!

War Fist Word Challenge
» I created a silly little word challenge that made Wil Wheaton (Geek & Sundry) and Walter White (Breaking Bad) the subjects of a weird situation. Check it out, and maybe try out the challenge yourself. Enjoy!